Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
Forum Discussion
Webasto heater install continued:
With the new exhaust system in place fire up the heater. I found three problems right off the bat. Problems 1 and 2 are leaks in the exhaust system. In these photos you can see smoke leaking out of the new muffler.
It's leaking from from around where the tube enters the muffler and also from where there the two halves of the muffler body join. I'd wondered if there was a problem with just his one muffler but another owner has wrote that they had the same problem.
I also have smoke leaking from where the flexible tube joins the curved end of the muffler tube. This leak is Mistake #2 I wrote about two posts ago. I'm thinking that if I'd made the insert the flexible hose fits over longer then it might not leak.
More problematic than both of these is that I can't get the heater to run correctly. Here is the symptom.
1.) Fan starts.
2.) Clicking from the fuel pump starts.
3.) White smoke begins flowing from the exhaust end (and the leaks).
4.) It's at this stage that the fan should kick into high gear and the Webasto start producing heat. Doesn't happen. It just keeps producing smoke and never kicks into high gear.
5.) After a certain amount of time the pump stops clicking. I'm assuming this is because the flame detector hasn't detected flame.
6.) The fan continues to run purging the last of the smoke from the exhaust.
7.) Heater shuts down and flashes error code
8.) To restart the heater need to first completely remove power (not just turn off).
With some experimenting I found a way to get the heater to start. First disconnect the fuel line from the bottom of the heater and start the heating sequence. Have a container to catch the fuel when the pump starts clicking. Wait until step 4, see above, then reconnect the fuel line and the heater will kick into high and start producing heat.
Works every time but this is no solution. I've bought this heater used so there is a possibility that it could have a coking problem. Some people have written that running the heater with kerosene will help de-coke it. Since I'm already using kerosene. fire up the heater then let it run for a couple hours.
No improvement.
I've been itching to see what the heater looks like inside so I'm going to go ahead and disassemble it and see if cleaning it will help.
Warning: I've never done this before so I might not be doing it correctly. This would probably void your warranty. I'm not responsible if you break your heater. Legalese blah blah blah.
Remove the heater from the van.
To hold the heater while working on it I've taken the mounting plate that came with the heater and attached it to a couple blocks of wood.
Remove the Electrical Connection Cover.
Slide the blade of a screwdriver under the edge of the Electrical Connection Cover and pry up.
This exposes the top of the Control Unit. The wires run into the X6 Connector. Unplug the X6 connector from the Control Unit. There is no connector lock so it should just slide off.
Notice the X6 connector is keyed with two ridges along one side and one ridge on the opposite side so it can only be inserted one way.
Lay the Electrical Connection Cover with connector off to the side.
Remove the Heater Air Inlet and Outlet Covers.
There is a trick to getting the cover off.
Lift up on either side of the cover just enough so the small lip clears the edge.
Then slide to the side.
It will release.
Do the same for the Outlet Cover.
Remove the Upper Housing Shell.
There are four tabs (two per side) that secure the Upper Housing Shell to the Lower Housing Shell.
Squeeze above the tabs on the Upper Shell while pushing on the tabs with the screwdriver.
It will pop right off.
continued -
With the new exhaust system in place fire up the heater. I found three problems right off the bat. Problems 1 and 2 are leaks in the exhaust system. In these photos you can see smoke leaking out of the new muffler.
It's leaking from from around where the tube enters the muffler and also from where there the two halves of the muffler body join. I'd wondered if there was a problem with just his one muffler but another owner has wrote that they had the same problem.
I also have smoke leaking from where the flexible tube joins the curved end of the muffler tube. This leak is Mistake #2 I wrote about two posts ago. I'm thinking that if I'd made the insert the flexible hose fits over longer then it might not leak.
More problematic than both of these is that I can't get the heater to run correctly. Here is the symptom.
1.) Fan starts.
2.) Clicking from the fuel pump starts.
3.) White smoke begins flowing from the exhaust end (and the leaks).
4.) It's at this stage that the fan should kick into high gear and the Webasto start producing heat. Doesn't happen. It just keeps producing smoke and never kicks into high gear.
5.) After a certain amount of time the pump stops clicking. I'm assuming this is because the flame detector hasn't detected flame.
6.) The fan continues to run purging the last of the smoke from the exhaust.
7.) Heater shuts down and flashes error code
8.) To restart the heater need to first completely remove power (not just turn off).
With some experimenting I found a way to get the heater to start. First disconnect the fuel line from the bottom of the heater and start the heating sequence. Have a container to catch the fuel when the pump starts clicking. Wait until step 4, see above, then reconnect the fuel line and the heater will kick into high and start producing heat.
Works every time but this is no solution. I've bought this heater used so there is a possibility that it could have a coking problem. Some people have written that running the heater with kerosene will help de-coke it. Since I'm already using kerosene. fire up the heater then let it run for a couple hours.
No improvement.
I've been itching to see what the heater looks like inside so I'm going to go ahead and disassemble it and see if cleaning it will help.
Warning: I've never done this before so I might not be doing it correctly. This would probably void your warranty. I'm not responsible if you break your heater. Legalese blah blah blah.
Remove the heater from the van.
To hold the heater while working on it I've taken the mounting plate that came with the heater and attached it to a couple blocks of wood.
Remove the Electrical Connection Cover.
Slide the blade of a screwdriver under the edge of the Electrical Connection Cover and pry up.
This exposes the top of the Control Unit. The wires run into the X6 Connector. Unplug the X6 connector from the Control Unit. There is no connector lock so it should just slide off.
Notice the X6 connector is keyed with two ridges along one side and one ridge on the opposite side so it can only be inserted one way.
Lay the Electrical Connection Cover with connector off to the side.
Remove the Heater Air Inlet and Outlet Covers.
There is a trick to getting the cover off.
Lift up on either side of the cover just enough so the small lip clears the edge.
Then slide to the side.
It will release.
Do the same for the Outlet Cover.
Remove the Upper Housing Shell.
There are four tabs (two per side) that secure the Upper Housing Shell to the Lower Housing Shell.
Squeeze above the tabs on the Upper Shell while pushing on the tabs with the screwdriver.
It will pop right off.
continued -
